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POLAND

Gay Lobby Should Undergo Medical Treatment, Says Polish MP

■ Marian Pilka

WARSAW, November 23, 2005 – An
ultra-conservative MP of Poland's ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS)
party has said the “the state should statutorily ban making any positive
remarks about homosexuality or promoting it.”

The remarks, made by Marian Pilka
on the “Straight Eyes” television programme, have outraged Polish lesbians
and gays.

Interviewed by Monika Olejnik, one
of Poland’s best-known journalists and presenter of the TV1 “Straight Eyes”
programme, Pilka said that Poland should “create psychotherapy centres where
the state would help homosexuals get rid of their disease.”

He added: “It is scientifically
proven that one can stop being homosexual.”

The MP also said the state should
punish what he called “a homosexual lobby, people who organize
demonstrations”, like the one at the weekend in Poznań which was organised
to promote equal treatment of various social groups, including gays and
lesbians, that suffer from discrimination.

“One should not spread such
convictions,” Pilka said, referring to the march and its slogans. “The
police did well by intervening resolutely.”

Adam Boniecki, a Catholic priest
and editor-in-chief of Tygodnyk Powszechny (a catholic weekly) who
was also on the program with Pilka, attempted to defend the demonstrators.

“We’ve already lived in a country
in which the government decided what demonstrations to allow”, the priest
pointed out. “Looking at the scenes in Poznan, I take the side of those who
were beaten there.”

Poland:Euro MP: Homophobic Polish Prime Minister
Is Not Welcome in UK. As the Polish Prime Minister, Kazimierz
Marcinkiewicz, makes his first official visit to the UK since his election
tomorrow (Thursday November 24), London’s Green MEP, Jean Lambert, has
spoken out in anger against Marcinkiewicz’s homophobic policies and the
treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in Poland.
(UK Gay News, November 23, 2005)

Poland:The Battle of
Poznan: A Gay Suspect’s View of the Poznan Events. By
Tomasz Szypula. I am 25. I was born four months before the Solidarity
began its revolution in August 1980. The only Poland I can remember is time
after 1989. The time of democracy – at least until last Saturday. (UK Gay
News, November 21, 2005)

Poland:
Riot Police Detain, Interrogate 65 at Gay Demo in Poznań.
“They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator. The
police in Poznań today briefly detained and interrogated 65 demonstrators
during the March of Equality organized by organizations of leftist and gay
activists in Poznań, western Poland.
(UK Gay News, November 21, 2005)

Poland:
Riot Police Detain, Interrogate 65 at Gay Demo in Poznań.
“They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator. The
police in Poznań today briefly detained and interrogated 65 demonstrators
during the March of Equality organized by organizations of leftist and gay
activists in Poznań, western Poland. (UK Gay News, November 19, 2005)

November 24:UK: Polish PM Slinks in Back Door to Avoid London Gay Protest.Poland’s homophobic Prime
Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, made an
undignified entrance via a side street to avoid gay rights protesters
picketing his lecture at Chatham House in London this afternoon
(November 24).

Poland:
Marches of Solidarity with
Gays Planned Throughout Poland This Weekend. Peaceful
demonstrations are to be staged in a number of Polish cities this weekend,
it was announced today. Demonstrations, in solidarity with Poznań where
police in full riot gear were brought in to break up a peaceful “March for
Equality” last weekend, are to be staged in Elblag, Gdańsk , Krakow, Lodz
and the capital, Warsaw.

November 23:
Poland: Euro MP: Homophobic
Polish Prime Minister Is Not Welcome in UK. As the
Polish Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, makes his first
official visit to the UK since his election tomorrow (Thursday
November 24), London’s Green MEP, Jean Lambert, has spoken out in
anger against Marcinkiewicz’s homophobic policies and the treatment
of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in Poland.

UK: Galloway’s Party in Gay Rights Row.
Grassroots members of George Galloway’s left-wing Respect party have
condemned as “unacceptable” the decision of the party leadership to
exclude lesbian and gay rights from their manifesto for the general
election earlier this year.

November 21:
USA:Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference Calls
for Worldwide End to HR Abuses. LGBT elected and
appointed leaders from across the United States and around the world
passed an historic resolution in Seattle this weekend at the Gay &
Lesbian Leadership Conference calling upon “all nations and
governments to adopt a vocal, clear and consistent policy on
international human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender people that includes a call on other countries to
abolish sodomy laws.”

November 19:
Poland:Riot Police Detain,
Interrogate 65 at Gay Demo in Poznań.
“They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator. The
police in Poznań today briefly detained and interrogated 65
demonstrators during the March of Equality organized by
organizations of leftist and gay activists in Poznań, western
Poland.

UK:Gay Group Demands Clarification on
Homophobia from DUP. The remarks of Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP) Councillor, Maurice Mills, in which he described
Hurricane Katrina as being sent by God to punish lesbian and gay
people and to prevent the gay Southern Decadence weekend in New
Orleans from going ahead, are “stupid, irresponsible and rooted in
deep-seated homophobia”, the Rainbow Project in Northern Ireland
said today.

November 17: UK:Gay Algerian on Brink of Deportation Gets
‘Reprive. The gay Algerian known as “Izmer” is back
tonight with his partner in Gloucestershire after spending almost a
week at the Harmondsworth Immigration Service Removal Centre, near
London’s Heathrow Airport.

Australia:Oz Dykes In Trouble for Using “I” Word.
Dykes on Mikes, said to be the biggest lesbian event in Australia,
is in a spot of bother. And it is all over their full name, Dykes
on Mikes – Lesbian Idol.

France/International:
IDAHO Group Officially Created in Paris as
a Gay NGO. It started, as things often do, as the dream
of one person. In this instance, a gay man in Paris. Last May, the
dream became a reality as more than 35 countries marked the
International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) with a variety of
projects, many of which captured the imagination.

Bulgaria:Gay Group Demands Probe of Homophobia in
Sofia Police Force. The Bulgarian gay organisation BGO
Gemini has lodged an official complaint concerning homophobia within
the Sofia police. The move comes following the LGBT group learning
of police harassment against a young gay man of Albanian origin.